Gawith Hoggarth Brown Flake u/s

[scottbtdmb]

Picked up a few oz of this off P&C last week to try.  Apparently this contains 83.5% Virginia’s, 12.5% Malawi burley, and 4% dark fired.  So far I have smoked this in 3 separate pipes (2 briars and a cob), all freshly cleaned from a recent everclear scrubbing.  The odd thing with this blend is that despite the VA’s being the dominant ingredient, I find that pretty much all I am getting is the burley, to the point where it almost reminds me of Solani ABF.

When smoking this with the briars, the smoke began very harsh and acrid, only to calm down into a nutty, mellow chocolate flavor about midway through.  With the cob, the nuttiness was consistent from the start and the entire smoke was pleasant.  This was also smoked first thing in the morning with a cup of joe, which could have influenced things.

Overall a very polarizing blend thus far.  I have jarred half to age and will continue to smoke the rest of what is out in different pipes for a further assessment.  I also wanted to add that I detected no Lakeland essence whatsoever.  Anyone else have experience with this blend?  Curious to get someone else’s take!

-Scott

 

[Zanaspus]

Pretty much mimics my thoughts, a Va masquerading as a burley. I've come to believe that strong Va's grown outside the US can, depending on blending act this way.

 

[Ozark Wizard]

yuppers!

I agree with your assessments. I do like it though...

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

I found this to be the case as well. I do enjoy Brown Flake Unscented quite a bit but not as much as Best Brown No. 2. That one tastes more like what one would expect from a Virginia. Glengarry as well, if you don’t mind a very light honeydew topping.

 

[scottbtdmb]

I found this to be the case as well. I do enjoy Brown Flake Unscented quite a bit but not as much as Best Brown No. 2. That one tastes more like what one would expect from a Virginia. Glengarry as well, if you don’t mind a very light honeydew topping.

Have never tried Best Brown No. 2!  Had Glengarry years ago, and can barely remember what my impressions were.  I really want to try Bright CR Flake, which I believe is essentially an unscented version of Glengarry.

I remember hearing that Gawith Hoggarth stopped making  Louisiana Flake after merging with Samuel Gawith.  Apparently when the merge went down, they decided to cut back on the # of blends produced, and LA Flake didn’t make the cut.  Can anyone confirm this?  This was another fave of mine back in the day, and I was fortunate enough to purchase some 2011 LA Flake from someone on another forum, which should be en route to my house now!  

Sorry to ramble and go on a tangent, but I’ve also noticed that Gawith Hoggarth stuff is extremely scarce at the moment.  From the little research I’ve done, it appears that they have a new US distributor, and won’t be shipping any product until Spring/Summer.  I am hopeful that this is accurate, as I will need to stock up on No. 7 Broken Flake, Dark Flake u/s and several others before too long.

Sorry again for the rambling!  

-Scott

 

[user 2027]

Yeah i need to up my cellar of GH as well with Sweet Rum Twist which has been renamed to S Type Brown Twist RM

 

[Blackhorse]

Best Brown 2 Be Better. Brown US close though.



Note: Broken Flake No 7 & Glengarry & Dark Flake (both US and S) plus the ones with the slight licorice scent and a number of the sweet twists are all events not to be missed on this mortal coil. All of the above are highly recommended. Favoring which, if any, is a largely subjective and very personal thing. These and other Gawith blends are among those that most pipers come to at the end of their lifelong search for that “grail blend”.

 

[scottbtdmb]

Best Brown 2 Be Better.  Brown US close though.



Note:  Broken Flake No 7 & Glengarry & Dark Flake (both US and S) plus the ones with the slight licorice scent and a number of the sweet twists are all events not to be missed on this mortal coil.  All of the above are highly recommended.  Favoring which, if any, is a largely subjective and very personal thing.  These and other Gawith blends are among those that most pipers come to at the end of their lifelong search for that “grail blend”.

Blackhorse it is good to hear from you my friend!  I have been out of the loop for several years, but I’m back now!  Not sure if you remember me (I sold you the nice prince shape Castello years ago), but we had many Gawith Hoggarth discussions back in the day, and I still recall your love (and mine!) for the No. 7 Broken Flake!

As luck would have it, despite the scarcity of G&H blends right now, I just happened to find a 500 gram bag of No 7 on www.tobaccopipes.com and look forward to receiving it and rekindling my love with this fine mixture!  Also have some 10 year old Dark Flake u/s that I’m working on and some 8 yr old Louisiana Flake on its way to my doorstep.  Life is good and I agree with you that in the search for the holy grail of pipe tobaccos, all roads lead to G&H!

Cheers,

Scott

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Lousiana Flake is still produced. It's often out of stock but it is still among the blends currently made by G&H.

 

[scottbtdmb]

Lousiana Flake is still produced. It's often out of stock but it is still among the blends currently made by G&H.

Thanks for the info....that is good to know! Here is a link to an article that discusses their new US distributor Kretek International.  http://stogiepress.com/news/cigar-news-kretek-international-inc-aligns-with-gawith-hoggarth-pipe-tobacco-products.html/

It appears that they will be importing roughly 30 blends, which doesn’t seem like an awful lot considering how extensive G&H’s product line is.  Hopefully all of my faves will make the cut, including the Louisiana Flake and No 7 Broken Flake.  I have set up all the email notifications on SP.com and P&C and eagerly await such notification (article says they should be arriving Spring/Summer)

-Scott

 

[Stick]

Lousiana Flake is still produced. It's often out of stock but it is still among the blends currently made by G&H.

Thanks for the info....that is good to know! Here is a link to an article that discusses their new US distributor Kretek International.  http://stogiepress.com/news/cigar-news-kretek-international-inc-aligns-with-gawith-hoggarth-pipe-tobacco-products.html/

It appears that they will be importing roughly 30 blends, which doesn’t seem like an awful lot considering how extensive G&H’s product line is.  Hopefully all of my faves will make the cut, including the Louisiana Flake and No 7 Broken Flake.  I have set up all the email notifications on SP.com and P&C and eagerly await such notification (article says they should be arriving Spring/Summer)

-Scott

...and readily available here in Blighty:

https://www.mysmokingshop.co.uk/index2.php?mod=catviewind&idPrd=1293

I've got some jarred up that I've been saving but after reading some of the reviews I recon I need to get stuck in now.

Welcome back Scott.